In response to my rant on diet books, reader, blogger and ace maintainer DebraSY sent her own guide to vetting books on weight loss. It's classic DSY, so I loved it!
Here it is:
How to read a diet book in five minutes or less:
1. Read the cover. If the title or description contain any of the following words, don't read further and just slam it down on the table from whence it came: revolutionary, breakthrough, ultimate, automatic, simple, ultra, "the end of dieting." These words indicate it is bull hockey. (And you read the book in 30 seconds!)
2. Skip to the last chapter where the recipes are and scan them. If you can tell you won't like them or are unaccustomed to the ingredients, slam it down. (You read it in less than 1 minute: good for you!)
3. Skip past chapter one (why everyone else is wrong or "why diets fail")
4. Skip past chapter two ("my personal journey"). Gag. The word "journey" nearly makes me as ill as
5. Scan chapter three or the comparable -- the one that has the "premise" of this diet. Again, look for those key words and be prepared to slam it down. If the bug-a-bear words are missing, if it makes sense to you, if the author shows humility and quotes from what appears to be reputable science, if the check list (there's always a check list) looks like something you can live with long term, if it suggests a daily amount of food that is livable, then go to the table of contents and find the chapter on "maintaining your losses." If it doesn't exist, slam it down. (You read it in 3.5 minutes).
6. If there is a chapter on maintenance, scan it. If it merely encourages you to return to the diet when you have a regain, and to concentrate on platitudes like "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" or to distract yourself with a bubble bath or by brushing your teeth when you want to eat, slam it down. If it tells you that maintenance is a time when you can "add back in" foods you really like, slam it down. If it tells you that maintenance is easier than weight loss, slam it down. If it says nothing about exercise, slam it down. (You read the book in five minutes!)
As you can surmise, people don't like to follow me through the diet aisle at the book store. It gets too loud.